, 1887-06-02

Oi very shaIy old whaIars or SAILING vessels
that NOW and then crept Up and down lLs
Pacific coast, carrying missionaries and Inn
her. Then c4iiie 'i' -ald discovery. AMI ti,a
Greg. .'2nS h."e'i way through the Gems,
Indian F.1p'rri Wilderness ana SNOW o.r,-,..l
mauHtaias INTO the mines. Finally. sfta,-
iIa-Iy years, stage road was cut tIsrrfrr!,
2lraHriIGe steamers began 10 GIv on the ,,..--,r,
between Oregon and California. But stfII the
stage road was SO rough and 1s4giloS. ANA H..
ocean Ws,S-i.- il ever VIII ba-sp terrific in is
'"1lnE, hiiifNv ~I9lcuior that OREGON wa,
':"&Fs very far away from California. And
tn"l. i.>!i.S ~ that, the two peoples were
o. much unlike o. almost aHv two Uafious
ycu could name. The Dre-onian was n r,aaca-
tui, pastoral man. The Dr-Eoulan. | think
was n many ways the better man of the two
IN IA inst place he was as n rule a very re-
iI-i"US man: for Oregon, YOU must know.
"isN Se''Ie,i IA" rounded into shape by u, tn
o'I't missionaries, while California suddenly
one day SpIang into tie dignity of a state
from TIN horde of goIi hunters that in Il
s!gic season naS projected upon her.
SO you sec that two widely different ole
mcnts went 30 make up tIle two new worlds
away uf!i here lsy the great sea And i,.ino
TINS 50 widely divided, ho:h bv the eayaca
grandeur of nature and the dispo~ifi0u of
the I,"!ir. they come 10 hate and ,l.,sr,~a
each other heartily Tie enmitv batgyraII
France and Germany to-day IS NOT more
bitter tnln WAS that which for q Inp-r time
lay between the OreGonian and the CtHgor-
/ man For my nWn part, |, n born rover, was
constantly shuttle cooked between the two
ia:i.t-- spent Il great many more wears in
Cali ormia than Oregon: hut as the latter
place Was i'll the minority. both rs to roDuIl-
iIoH ant popular estimation OF the world I
always claimed, and still claim, to be on
Oi"gonian. The bottom dog in the fight, the
!5'le horse III the horse race and the DOOR
man IN the clcction-these are not paving
notices; but they have always been mine.
When the great vigilance committee sen
sation swept the land aud hung SO many
Cahiorniars It stopped ut the Oregon line.
But 1t hung good many Orcgonians who
chancerl to tie here at the time And some of
them, especially some Of those hung in the
mines and mountains, We're guilty of no other
crime than that of being Orcz-0uiaus, And
what a crazy and dfsgraceful thing that
visiIante business was Cen Sherman, the,,
Il young man here III California, opposed the
laWlesS work manluiy. Nothing, in lis
march to the sea shows such vaIor and
calm deyot on to law and dHtv Is did his
par!touS action here IN the days of old
When the northern mines broke ont re-
Sult.ng i'll Idaho and Montana n! CaIifor-
MIA poured into and right over Ore
, gon like 4 mad torrent Lawie,-lrssz
! have never heard OF 50 much wrong
and crime, even among sayagas. rs
/ the Orerouiaus had to endure at the hands OF
the hardened element of the uamadic CaIifor-
mans. C'rariy the viriiautas hal rot hang
half enc = of them! And cvii.,tjr tins
vas ;te i---.aS Of at least a ley. OF lie Gre
gaHiaus. For in 4 remote little valley, into
%
dcyourinS all the SUI .aae on the main
route, the long hairel o. -rulaus rose up one
nj sj4t and hung thee Jhrea iIultSS narandrrs
wI;tnut judge or jury And the funny part
of /; Ill was, if such grim work can he called
funny, they pinned label on each corpse as
1t was left hanging theye, which read thus:
'tunS l. the yigilanfes!'
49,
But al this eUmity is over now. Ignor-
ancc, the mother OF hate ami malice no more
holds sway out here. California comedies at
last that C~a.gru Is something more than one
of her northern counties: and the religious,
long h.ireJ Or 'uian ut last comedies that
I the c.. 3F;d "a those of them hat have not
been il as..sIe about as good as himself.
For g .atn years we have been digging
away railroad bctween these two great
states c. lie ''Gr,i. ocean. Mountain range
after mountain range has been pierced, tUn-
uc,ctI through or climbed over; trarhIas5
regions OF dense black forests have been hewn
through and now at Lass n peep of light is
seen. Tba last spike is about to be driven.
Ii You VIII tate your map and look along
the mountain range that divides Oregon from
Calico. ia nj a point about 100 miles from
thu ocean yoT can see where the last rail IS
about t. he laid And This Is the rail that is
to complete, for the first time in the history
Of. lit L
cur Union. For the first tnmc, now in 4 few
days, can the United States throw her sol
| dcrs and armament entirely around herself
ami have at a moments call, like Sparta, Il
wall of men. For my own part, L care but
| very little about the military Importance of
any event i'll the United States, l have a
/ calm conviction that TIE United States can
hrash the united world any day that it
! ..-;vis. deserves or desires thraShiHg; and
here 1T the matter rest. But the compile
iua Of this circle OF steel you can easily see Is
a matter of tremendous military importance;
whatever may be your own private notions
about the strength or The weakness of the
world.
But Of course the press of the United States
is but Little concerned about things of such
vital Importance at home. Yet suppose such
thing was about to hc consumHatad as this
in any place far away! What would the
great American press say If Germany was
about to throw a complete wall of Steel rails
about her! What if Russia was found to be
sirunE enough and rich enough and enter
prisiug enough to fence in all her lands with
iron! What il France WIS about to complete
4 steel belt around her great warm bosom
like that which girt her beautiful city before
the siege: **+
Why, tell you that the telegraph wires
Of
from Europe night and day and day and
night. Every rail that was laid would be q
magnet to draw tho.eyc5 and attention Of all
our people and all our papers to that spot.
Our great papers would serve us with double
lecded kilograms and leaders morning and
night and night and HoTningI Special cor
respondents would be on the spot from the
great city of Oshkosh down 10 the villages OF
New Orleans and New York. The snow clad
mountains where the last Tpike IS to be driven
would be gIoriiled before all the world. The
boUndIess black forests that stretch from the
last spike to the Pacific ocean would 10 longer
remain Unnlentioned. The whole system of
fertile mountain alleys that dot the northern
Sierra of California would be laid with all its
aliuring beauty before the world
But no. 1t IS only the United States that
is completing a belt of steel about her girth.
1t is not bleeding Ireland" 1t Is not Bis
!. TX Ii is not sasacious Gladstone. nor
Carruous Churchill. 1t IS only quiet Stan
lord and serene Huntington hewiES the way
through the wilderness 10 join at last the
oncy hostile lands of OreEon and California,
away up yonGer the lofty tops of the
Northern Siarras. l am going there to see
this last spike driven. / shall describe the
country there and theresbOuts we'll, FOR 1t l.
in ti',b region that spent much "f my youth
! snail q. i.y slow marches making clos not
of tlIs land the people and tie whole sui lI
ot interest. Aud I shall tell You all ahoUt
northern California as I pass on up the WIDE
ana long Sacramento valley 10 ele place
where the last spike il thi- ha!J Of steel VIII
lr dgivau. ea.a- 800 EIiies Distant. Ifr ra''-
( rs5aerto vale, Is The largest t.iaDl' ''t'yy,
!. "a except the valley of tie Il~sis-Ei'i- ~
a.. ,ae United States. It Is already parity
HH - cultivation. the FERNS r0rt-'"e 'lom
. t...a.) are t.nnI u D.,ig q ieU auldr>i. Il
- Ioy SO co.'s ap;cuousiy fertile a. son.o oi It.
tributary valleys. We VIII iinEer IN one oi
t'ir=z small. rich valleys and get glimpse oi
California farm life as We pas.
JOAQUIN 2iIrI.l.II-